Written by Dr Jan Hugo, University of Pretoria
“CIB Vista funding provided opportunities to engage with other institutions to learn from each other, as well as further engage and develop collaborative initiatives for reciprocal relationships”.
The pivotal role that the built environment plays in driving climate change, resource consumption and waste generation serves as a reminder that built environment practitioners have both the responsibility and opportunity, to enable rapid and decisive change in addressing global environmental crises. To facilitate this each region must play its part. Developing the capacity to create, test and verify locally appropriate solutions is critical. The CIB, through the Vistas Programme, played a pivotal role in advancing this agenda at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Understanding and responding to the context has always been essential at the University of Pretoria. Consequently, design and research projects undertaken at the institute are often context-specific and community centred. Over the years several projects were conducted in local formal and informal communities focusing on engaging with local actors and communities. While these in-depth engagements by researchers and local communities are valued, undertaking more experimental research to support these context-specific initiatives is needed. Developing the local capacity to create, test, and verify built environment solutions before implementing them in existing communities or research contexts is critical to leverage research in the Southern African region.
Pilot study
In response to this a pilot study was established forming part of a larger project proposal aiming to develop building technology testing facilities at the University of Pretoria. These facilities will enable the local capability to develop and assess the performance of adaptable facades and improve the climate change resilience of the built environment in Southern Africa. Given the significant cost associated with the development of physical testing facilities the pilot study undertook a precedent analysis of existing living labs and testing laboratories at selected institutes to guide the thinking and planning of such facilities.
The Vistas Programme provided seed funding for the Flexible Facades research project, yet the support from the CIB extended beyond financial inputs. The CIB enabled us to i) identify and engage with researchers experienced in this field, ii) provided seed funding that allowed us to leverage more support from other institutes, iii) provided a platform for engaging on the topic to foster local engagement.
Research network
Through the CIB network, we were able to connect with a network of successful researchers currently managing and developing living laboratories and building technology laboratories. We engaged with researchers such as Prof Andy van den Dobbelsteen leading the campus-wide sustainable strategy and campus wide living laboraties at Delft University of Technology, Prof Holger Wallbaum and Dr Elena Malakhatka managing the HSB Living Lab at Chalmers University of Technology, and Dr Lau Sui Kit coordinating the Tropical Technologies Laboratory at the National University of Singapore.
University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
Chalmers University of Technology
Chalmers University of Technology
National University of Singapore
Delft University of Technology
These engagements, supported by the CIB Vistas funding to visit some of the facilities, allowed us to learn from other researchers and research projects. These relationships will also prove valuable as to enable future collaborative projects.
Funding leverage
CIB funding, through the Vistas programme, assisted in leveraging further funding to initiate a pilot study at UP, in which initial testing and protocol development are currently being undertaken. The funding also enabled further research exchanges with various additional institutes. The support and funding initiated by the Vistas programme allowed us to leverage additional smaller funding opportunities to support our work.
Finally, through the CIB W116 (Smart and Sustainable Built Environments) we conducted an online seminar, titled Learning from living labs and built environment testing facilities on 9 October, 2023. This seminar focused on researchers from the collaborating institutes to share their work and the opportunities that such testing facilities present. This not only facilitated further discussion, but also provided a platform to engage with local stakeholders in South Africa who identified the need for such facilities in the Southern African region. This platform therefore provided an important opportunity for advocacy and inter-institutional learning.
Insights
Main insights from reviewing these facilities highlight:
- These living laboratories and building technology laboratories are critical to enable inter-disciplinary research and the coordinated integrated application of sustainable strategies and technologies.
- Facilities like these foster further development and collaboration between different disciplines, and industry and academia which is critical for developing a more sustainable built environment industry.
- Through testing and application, theoretical strategies can be simulated and refined under real world conditions. To further develop this a network of such facilities and projects are needed. This can enable the development and testing of new technologies diverse climatic contexts and world regions which is critical promote global climate action and achieve the UN SDGs.
- Including end-users in these facilities provides significant opportunities to co-create solutions and further transdisciplinary research.
While this project to develop the research capacity at the University of Pretoria, and in the Southern African region, is still in its infancy, the CIB Vistas funding enabled opportunities to engage with other institutions to learn from each other and develop collaborative initiatives for reciprocal relationships. We would like to express our gratitude to the CIB Vistas Programme for supporting this project and the opportunities enabled through the funding.
